Finally getting finished with holidays and family flu to get started on this project. These are the materials that I can't get from the grocery and I think I will have to build a press in the up coming months. Also also added cup cheese to Feb. I used to eat a lot of this in Pennsylvania as a kid but you can't find it in the flatlands. It all looks a bit like greek to me but should be interesting.

So I have tried my hand at a few very simple cheese in the past and I didn't do much reading to prep for this one but it was a great beginner cheese. Just heating the milk to 86 degrees adding the starter and rennet and forget it. It came out great with lots of cheese. We ate it on crackers, it has a bit of a cream cheese but slightly tart character, put it in baked spaghetti, and still have lots left over. When spring comes, and we start to get fresh herbs we will make this quite a bit.

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My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes and oh, my friends it gives a lovely light. Edna st. Vincent

So the cultured butter was and interesting process. I have found that New England Cheesemaking Co. has several different recipes on their website and they vary from what is on the rennet bottle and culture packages and I find it a bit frustrating for a noob. I have heard that their books are much better at explaining things and giving consistent recipes.

On to the butter: I cultured the heavy cream which was only available in ultra pasteurized but that seemed ok because I was adding buttermilk culture to it. I put 1/2 in the food processor and set it to the lowest setting as instructed. They said 10-20 minutes and it would separate. I watched and watched and couldn't get it to separate. When I stopped it at about 12 min. I realized I had passed the separation stage and now everything was emulsified. So the last half of the batch went into the kitchenaid mixer with wisk and that worked much better. The butter was a bit to sticky to fold so it wasn't as creamy and rinsed as well as I had hoped but I think if I chill it a bit before folding and rinsing it will be better next time.

Now what to do with the butter/whey mixture. It makes very creamy eggs and I made the rest of it into Ghee but it had a bit to much milk solids to pull the ghee out so it wall went into chocolate chip cookies and tasted pretty nice.

The picture is the butter I put in my grandparents butter mold but it was a bit to warm/sticky to make a proper shape. Any one have a good technique for molding butter in a wooden mold?

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My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes and oh, my friends it gives a lovely light. Edna st. Vincent

I have searched the internet a couple times for true Pennsylvania dutch cup cheese (which is different than schearcase). The old recipe I have says to use thick sour milk, so I took 1 gallon of whole milk added 2 packets buttermilk culture and 2 drops of veggie rennent and let set for 12 hours.

Then I heated milk to 120 degrees and hung in bag until next day. (See pic.) I crumbled the curd and mixed in 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Is this to change the pH? I put it in a crock and stirred each morning and night for 3 days. It was not "yellow and gummy with a sharp odor" so I put in a little gummy cheese from some Humboldt Fog and I am stirring it until it gets yellow and gummy. I will keep you posted but if anyone has any scientific insight that would be great. My dad, who made it as a kid, thought my grandpa only used the skim milk for this and not whole milk?

And if you have never had cup cheese it is a bit like elmer's glue with a brie character. See picture below.

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My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes and oh, my friends it gives a lovely light. Edna st. Vincent

1. Heat the milk to 86 degrees (F). Add the starter and mix thoroughly.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of the diluted rennet and stir gently with an up-and-down motion. Cover and let set, undisturbed, for 12 hours, or until a solid curd forms. I actually waited 24 hours and it was fine. The blog writer said lactic cheese has a big window of time on this step, so there is no rush to putting it in cloth.
3. Gently ladle the curd into a colander lined with butter muslin. I also use disposable cheesecloth for lactic cheese with no problem.Tie the corners of the muslin into a knot and hang the bag to drain for 6-12 hours. (I waited 12 hours for mine.)
4. Place the curds in a bowl and add the salt to taste, if desired.
5. Store in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. (As I described above, if I don’t use it right away, I freeze it in 8-ounce blocks.)

Yield: About 2 pounds (or slightly more).
Next time I try this I will put in fresh herbs from the garden.

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My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes and oh, my friends it gives a lovely light. Edna st. Vincent